Lucky Combination -- Lower Taxes, More Dollars

Orlando's Budget Can Grow By $13 Million Despite A Cut In The Property-tax Rate.

July 17, 2001|By Mark Schlueb, Sentinel Staff Writer

Orlando's property-tax rate may be dropping for the first time in a dozen years, but spending will continue its steady climb.

Mayor Glenda Hood, in an annual address at City Hall, presented a $234.4 million general-fund budget for next year -- representing a $13 million spending increase. The general fund is the portion of the budget that includes most city services, including police, firefighters, parks and street workers.

City Council members applauded the mayor's proposed cut to the property-tax rate, the first in 12 years. The 6.1 percent cut will bring the city to the "rollback" rate, the rate needed to bring in the same property-tax revenues as the current year.

But even if the council adopts the lower tax rate, growth in the city's tax base from annexation, new construction and increasing property values guarantees that the budget will still go up. This year's general-fund budget is $221.4 million, and the mayor said she needs 5.8 percent more to keep the city running next year.

It's nothing new. Though the city's tax rate has remained static for 12 years, the value of the city's tax base has consistently increased -- nearly 44 percent in the past five years alone. And that has consistently brought more cash into the city coffers.

Hood, who has been mayor since 1992, said the time hasn't been right to cut the tax rate before. The "focused business plan" that the mayor credits with saving enough money to allow the tax cut took several years to implement and didn't begin to yield results immediately, she said. And residents have demanded some costly services and programs, such as the city's $30 million parks initiative, Hood said.

"Other years, I guess we just weren't ready," she said. "We'd always asked ourselves if we were ready, but it was never the right time."

Hood's proposed budget includes 50 new employees at a cost of $1.4 million, including 15 firefighters and one police officer.

Some 34 largely vacant positions are being cut, mostly from the public-works department. The city has hired a private company to perform some mowing jobs now handled by city crews.

Though spending is going up, department heads aren't getting everything they asked of the mayor. Administrators requested 89 new positions. Most didn't make it into the budget, including three code-enforcement officers needed because of a rising case backlog.

Other requested positions that didn't make the cut: four workers at Harry P. Leu Gardens, a fire inspector, seven Fire Department dispatchers and three police officers.

The City Council will hold public hearings on the budget and tax rate Sept. 10 and 24.